February 13, 2012 – GREECE – Historic cinemas, cafes, shops and banks were set ablaze in central Athens on Sunday as black-masked protesters fought Greek police outside parliament, while inside lawmakers looked set to defy the rage by endorsing a new EU/IMF austerity deal. State television reported violence spread to the islands of Corfu and Crete, the northern city of Thessaloniki and towns in central Greece. Shops were being looted in the capital in the worst breakdown of order since 2008 when violence gripped Greece for weeks after police shot a 15-year-old schoolboy. As parliament prepared to vote on a new 130 billion euro bailout to save Greece from a messy bankruptcy, a Reuters photographer saw buildings in Athens engulfed in flames and huge plumes of smoke rose in the night sky. “We are facing destruction. Our country, our home, has become ripe for burning, the centre of Athens is in flames. We cannot allow populism to burn our country down,” conservative lawmaker Costis Hatzidakis told parliament. The air in Syntagma Square outside parliament was thick with tear gas as riot police fought running battles with youths who smashed marble balustrades and hurled stones and petrol bombs. Terrified Greeks and tourists fled the rock-strewn streets and the clouds of stinging gas, cramming into hotel lobbies for shelter as lines of riot police struggled to contain the mayhem. State NET television reported that trouble had also broken out in Heraklion, capital of the tourist island of Crete, as well as the towns of Volos and Agrinio in central Greece. Despite the chaos, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos warned that Greeks faced “unimaginably harsher” sacrifices if parliament rejected the package, which demands deep pay, pension and job cuts, when it votes later in the evening. On the streets many businesses were ablaze, including the neo-classical home to the Attikon cinema dating from 1870 and a building housing the Asty, an underground cinema used by the Gestapo during World War Two as a torture chamber. –Reuters

17 Responses to As austerity reality takes hold of Greece, parts of Athens go up in flames

I have friends in Greece, and they have started to talk about starting a revolution against their politicians, against Brussels (they want to burn down the EU-building) and they want to hang Merkel and Sarkozy. I can’t describe their anger, but i guess most greek people are pissed now.

It’s a zero-sum game with no winners. The bankers have looted and indebted the country, the politicians have been sacrificed under the blade of the guillotine in the Reign of Terror, and technocrats enact austerity measures for banks, while everything of value in the country of Greece that can deemed an ‘asset’ will end up on the discount auction block. What’s left? Bankrupt banks, a depleted national treasury, draconian austerity measures, and a public liquidation of state and private assets which could include everything from railroads and national monuments to national works of art. This is not a depression; its economic servitude and though the rage is understandable…it will accomplish absolutely nothing but more suffering and deprivation for the masses. Worst, it’s only the beginning of what will soon unfold across the planet as sovereign national budgets go bust.

A quick glance of what we have become in the United States will undoubtedly reaffirm your statement. The vast majority of the work force (the middle class) are in a no win situation as we speak. We MUST continue to work in order to keep a roof over our heads and food on our table, unfortunately wages have fallen well behind the rate of inflation and the middle class works solely to get by. There is little hope of a bright future when your entire paycheck is used to pay for survival essentials or the expenses required to earn the paycheck for those essentials (gas, car maintenace, BMV tags, insurance, road tolls, vehicle inspection expenses etc.) We have quickly become endentured servants to the “american dream”. It has been estimated that over 40% of our incomes are used to pay taxes in one form or another. Our freedoms, liberties and our pursuit of happiness are long gone, unfortunately we just dont know it.

It seems to me that this type of reactionby the populace would be expected. Do these lawmakers really expect the greek people to just accept the fact they are losing their future? But i guess after reading it, i think the title should be: “A look into America’s future.”

The lawmakers of Greece are unaffected by austerity. Because they don’t feel its affects, it means nothing to them to pass it on to the people. So when the Greek people go berserk with rage of contempt for their “lawmakers”, it’s really the lawmakers who are responsible for the rioters actions regardless of the outcome. If they are going to make cuts, cut the lawmakers pay and benefits equal to what the people are paying. Why aren’t they suffering too?

Oh Europe, … Europe what are you doing?
Basil: I don’t want any trouble. Alexis Zorba: Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and look for trouble. […] Zorba: Damn it boss, I like you too much not to say it. You’ve got everything except one thing: madness! A man needs a little madness, or else… Basil: Or else? Zorba: …he never dares cut the rope and be free. […] Basil: Teach me to dance, will you? Zorba: Dance? Did you say… dance?! … Come on my boy… together… Let’s go… hop … Again… hop … […] Zorba: Boss, I have so much to tell you, … I never had loved a man like you … […] Zorba: Hey boss, did you ever see a more splendiferous crash?! … Oh, … You can laugh too!… hmmm… Hey!… You laugh!

Oh boy! Since you wrote this, Alvin, I have had a discussion with Mum about Daniel 8! Look for what happens to Greece; Media and Persia. I’ve just been looking up who these last two are. Ready, folks? Both are Iran!

Got links to prove it if anybody wants them. When I tell Mum later today, she might fall off her chair! (Metaphorically, of course). The news blew me away.

The 4 world kingdoms resurface again in world history as time draws to a close – Daniel 2

Babylon– Modern day Iraq (First Gulf War)Persia – Modern day IranGreece – Modern day Greece (ground zero of Sovereign Debt crisis)Rome– Vatican calls for a New World Order

As I said in my book, what’s old is new again and these same four kingdoms on which most of the world’s destiny has spun throughout history are once again at the center of the final changes sweeping across the world.

I’m still a bit iffy about Rome. There are so many ‘interpretations’ out there that I have to be very careful. Not surprised you mentioned Iraq, although I’ll have to do some more research of my own on everything. I’m convinced Islam has the biggest part to play in the end times as the Bible is a Middle Eastern book for the most part, although I now see there’s much persecution coming to Europe. I keep seeing Norway mentioned in the news. Much appreciated, hearing from you:)